Description
A powerful and moving story of three trafficked children searching for freedom and hope.
Around the world, millions of people - including many children - are victims of human trafficking. These modern-day slaves often go unseen even in our own cities and towns, their voices silent and their stories untold. In this incredible book, Zana Fraillon imagines the story of three such children, Esra, Miran and Isa. The result is powerful, heartbreaking and unforgettable.
Esra, Miran and Isa work for the Snakeskin gang, tending to plants in the dark and airless basement of a house they are not allowed to leave. They've been told that they belong to the Snakeskins, but Esra knows that she belongs to no one - and she is determined to find freedom.
This is a SKELLIG for this generation; beautiful, magical and with Zana Fraillon's incredible talent for combining important global issues with extraordinary storytelling.
Review
Esra, Miran and Isa are three children whose parents were told they were being taken to a wonderful country for a better life. In reality, the children have been sold into slavery. Locked in the basement of a house where they must tend to drug plants, and where they are never allowed to leave, until one day they escape...
Zana Fraillon weaves a heart-breaking and powerful tale of the strength of the human spirit, despite all attempts to crush it. The children have unique personalities and their friendships with each other, and with the people they meet as they flee for their lives, are unforgettable.
The story has a mystical element throughout, but ultimately it is a story of hope, friendship, resilience, and freedom.
This is a perfect book to introduce the horrors of human trafficking and to open discussions about the millions of people who disappear around the world every year.
Best suited to readers in Year 8 and up.
Reviewed by Michelle
